Automatic feed apparatus.



"Patented May I3, I902.

F. WOEBNEB.

AUTOMATIC FEED APPARATUS.

' (Application filed July 2, 1901;

(No Modal.)

w: yonms PEYERS 00.. PHOTOLKTHQ. Msmnm UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE.

FRITZ WOERNER, OF HAMBURG, GERMANY.

AUTOMATIC FEED APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 700,110, dated May 13, 1902. Original application filed June 28, 1900; $erial No. 21 ,9'13. Divided and this application filed July 2, 1901. Serial To 00% whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRITZ WOERNER, a subject of the German Emperor, and a resident of Hamburg, in the German Empire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Feed Apparatus, forming divisional portion of my pending application, filed June 28, 1900, Serial No. 21,973, and being described in the following specification.

The present invention relatesto that class of automatic feed apparatus which when used for feedinga steam-boiler, for instance, give access of the steam at a given water-level to a suitable device, which device by means of its expansion operates a valve of the feedwater pipe until requisite water level has been reached, when the flow of steam to the said expansion device is cut ofi by the cooling and consequent contraction of the latter in cooperation with a suitable counterweight closes the feed-water pipe.

With this end in view my invention consists. of certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts, as will be hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which-' Figure 1 is a lateral elevation, partly in section, of my improved feed apparatus in which the expansion-tubes exert a direct rotary action on a suitable spindle or shaft which in its turn may be used to open or close the cut-off valve of the supply-pipe. Fig. 2 is a central horizontal section through Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 shows an elevation, partly in section, of a modification of the feed apparatus in which the direct rotary action of the spindle or shaft actuating the cut-off valve is effected by the contraction of the said expansion-tubes.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throu ghout the several views.

The tubes a a, Figs. 1 and 2, are connected attop and bottom bysuitable unions 1) and 0, so as to form an oval-shaped tube-frame, the union 1) being provided with a steam-inlet d and the union 0 with asteam-outlet 6. Both unions are connected and held immovably the proper distance apart by means of tie-rods f and g, which carry between their inner ends a casing or shell h. In the Walls of this shell is journaled a spindle 0r shaft L'said' shaft carrying a disk It. The two tubes a are fur- (No model.)

nished in the middle with clips Z and m, respectively. Attached or pivoted to these clips are rods n and 0, respectively,the hook-shaped ends of which, passing through suitable openings in the end walls of the shell 71., engage notches p and q in the circumference of the disk 70.

The shaft 1 is connected with the cut-off valve r of the supply-pipe s or practically forms the stem of the plug 1'' of such cut-off valve or cook.

On the shaft or stem e'is mounteda Weighted double-armed lever t, which causes the return movement of the shaft 2' and closing of the cut-off valve when the tube-frame becomes cooled again. In addition to this the levert may be used at the same time to perform different functions-namely, to act by means of a chain it on the damperin order to increase or decrease the draft of the air-current which supplies the fire of the boiler or boilers.

When steam is admitted into the tubes at a, the heat instantly expands the same, and the latter cause both legs or members a of the tube-frame to move outward away from each other at the same time, and thereby draw the rod n in the one direction and the rod 0 in the opposite direction. By this combined move ment of the partsthe rods wand 0 act on the disk 7c in such a manner as to cause the latter, and consequently the shaft or stem 71, with plug 0*, to rock and to open the cut-off valve r of the supply-pipe 8.

When the steam-supply into the tube-frame is cut off, the tubes a cool and contract again, thereby reversing the action above described, allowing the return movement or closing of cut-off valve or cock 1 by the action of the weighted lever t and preventing further passage of water into the boiler.

By the above-described construction I get tube-frame consists of two pairs of tubesa. Each pair of tubes is connected in the middle by ball-shaped socket-joints Z m, and the outer extremities of the tubes are again fixed in unions 1) and c. The joints Z m are provided with bolts 12 and w, having external threads and passing through the said joints and being adjusted and held in position therein by means of lock-nuts 0c. The inner extremities of the bolts 12 and w are furnished with flanges y and 2, respectively, each of which is provided with a suitable ball-shaped recess or bearing for the reception of the outer ends of rods n and 0, the inner ends of which engage the notches p and q, respectively, in the circumference of the disk 7s. The latter, being carried by the shaft 2', is inclosed in a suitable casing 72., as this is obvious from the drawings and fully explained with reference to Figs. 1 and 2.

In the modification shown by Fig. 3 the arrangement is, however, thus: that the valve shaft t'is operated not by the expansion of the tube-frame, but by the contraction of the latter. For this purpose the tube-frame is being held in its expanded position by allowing the steam to pass continuously through the tubes a. \Vheu the steam is cut oil, the tubes a cool and contract, thereby causing both sides of the tube-frame to move inward toward each other at the same time, and thereby pushing or moving the rods 17. and o in opposite direction. By this combined inward movement of the rods 92. and 0 the disk 7t, and consequently its shaft i, is rocked in order to open or respectively close the cutoff valve of the supply-pipe, as the arrangement may be. \Vhen steam is again admitted, the heat instantly expands the tubes a, and the latter cause both sides of the tubeframe to move outward again, thereby reversing the action above described and allowing or enabling the weighted lever to rock the shaft 11in the opposite direction and to close thereby the cut-off valve of the supp y-p p Having fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An automatic regulatingdevice comprising a pair of steam-legs connected to an inletnnion at one end and to an outlet-union at the opposite end, said legs adapted to diverge or expand, and converge or contract under varying temperatures, a spindle, means operated by the steam-legs when displaced in one direction to rock said spindle in one direction,and means automatically rocking said spindle in a reverse direction on the displacement of the steam-legs in a reverse direction, for the purpose set forth.

2. Anautomaticregulatingdevice,comprising a pair of steam-legs connected to an inletunion at one end and to an outlet-union at the opposite end, said legs adapted to diverge or expand and converge or contract under varying temperatures,a spindle, means operated by the steam-legs when displaced in one direction to rock said spindle in one direction, and a weighted lever secured to said spindle to rock the same in a reverse direction, for the purpose set forth.

3. Anautomaticregulatingdevice,comprising a pair of steam-legs connected to an inletunion at one end and to an outlet-union at the opposite end, said legs adapted to diverge or expand and converge or contract under varying temperatures, a spindle, means operated by the steam-legs when displaced in one direction to rock said spindle in one direction, and a two-armed lever having one of its arms weighted, said leversecured to the spindle to rock the same in a reverse direction, for the purpose set forth.

4:. In an automatic boiler-feeding device, the combination with the. feed-pipe, its valve and valve-stem; of a pair of steam-legs connected at one end to a steam-inlet union and at the opposite end to a steam-outlet union, said steam-legs adapted to diverge or expand and converge or contract under varying temperatures, means operated by the steam-legs when displaced in one direction to rock the aforesaid valvespindle in one direction and means automatically rocking said spindle in a reverse direction on the displacement of the steam-legs in a reverse direction, for the purpose set forth.

5. In an automatic boiler-feed, the combination with the feed-pipe, its valve and valvestem and a notched disk secured thereto; of a pair of steam-legs connected to a steam-in let union at one end and to a steam-outlet union at their opposite end, said legs adapted to diverge or expand and converge or contract under varying temperatures, rods actuated by the displacement of the steam-legs in one direction and engaging the notches in the disk on the valve-spindle to rock the samein one direction, and means automatically rocking said spindle in a reverse direction on the displacement of the steam-legs in a reverse direction, for the purpose set forth.

6. In an automatic boiler-feed, a pair of steam-legs each composed of two tubes and an intermediate hollow union, said legs connected at one end to a steam-inlet union and at the opposite end to a steam-outlet union and abolt extending through each of the afore said intermediate unions, said bolts provided with recessed heads at their proximate ends; of a boiler-feed pipe, its valve and valvestem, a Weighted lever, and a disk secured to said stem, said disk having oppositely-arranged notches and q and oppositely-arranged rods seated in the recesses in the heads of the aforesaid bolts, the free beveled ends of said rods projecting into the notches p, g, respectively, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

FRITZ WOERNER. Witnesses:

MAX KAEMPFF, E. H. L. MUMMENHoFF. 

